Want a truth bomb that will shock your system awake like no hit of caffeine ever could? Here you go: Upwards of 80% of B2B sales start in digital channels.
80%! That’s by far the majority of B2B sales that take place.
But, notice the operative word there, “start.” They “start” in digital channels. That doesn’t mean 80% of B2B sales are completed or closed in digital channels. In fact, we know that’s not the case.
A digital-first sales process is critical, but it’s simply not enough. You need digital and humans. And that will never change.
RELATED: 6 Types of Lead Gen that Actually Works
Think of it this way. Let’s say you own a snack-stand business in New York. On the same corner you have a vending machine, and also a snack stand with a human selling snacks. Your goal, obviously, is to sell the most snacks.
So…
You would want people to visit the snack guy over the vending machine. Why? Because there’s a human at the snack stand who can sell the person two snacks, three snacks, upsell, cross-sell, build a relationship so the person returns tomorrow, etc. Can the vending machine do this? Not a chance!
The analog version (the snack guy) dominates where it matters most.
Does it hurt the snack baron to also have a vending machine? No, because night will eventually fall and the snack guy will go home to his family, at which point the vending machine can cover the night shift.
RELATED: How to Build a Multi-channel Sales Sequence
Here’s the big idea: While you must have a digital presence — you still need humans to build relationships, forge meaningful connections, and move your deals to closed/won. And this especially true for high-ticket offers.
Today I’m sharing what this dance can look like in real life. In your business, and in every business, sales enablement should be built around a digital-to-human handoff. Both are vital. Both will net you profits. And both will allow you to grow and scale for decades to come.
What Digital-first Does Right
Product education on their terms
Buyers want to move at their own pace. A digital-first sales process gives them more agency in their buying journey. This is becoming more and more important as the new generations step into leadership roles.
It’s fast and efficient
Once you have your sales funnel set up, it should work on autopilot behind-the-scenes. It can quickly and efficiently qualify prospects as buyers and weed-out the non-buyers.
It’s transparent (in theory)
Humans reps can make mistakes and can show bias, whereas carefully vetted digital resources show no bias. Two prospects in completely different regions of the U.S. will enter into the same sales funnel and get all the same information. They can watch case-studies, read testimonials, see software demos, etc. and they can typically trust the information published online is honest and true.
RELATED: Cold Calling vs. Cold Email – The Ultimate Showdown
Where Digital-first Fails
Can’t build relationships
“Your daughter is graduating high school next year? Wow! That’s a huge milestone, I bet you’re a proud dad. What are her plans?” Big deals require a certain bond of trust that can only come from flesh-and-blood humans. Digital is great, but it’s impersonal at best, and cold at worst.
Can’t give tailor-made solutions
When a human sales rep speaks with a prospect, they can learn all about their fears, hopes, pains, and desires. They can then connect the dots of their offering and frame it as the best solution… to the prospect’s specific pain points! The digital-first approach is generic and fails on this front.
It can’t persuade like a human can
Humans have a spirit, and a spirit can convey information like no machine ever could. The human spirit can engage and motivate and listen and truly inspire confidence in the prospect. There are also visual and tonal cues that humans can detect and act on. Sure, AI is becoming pretty good at this, but at the end of the day it still lacks that vital spirit necessary to bring buyers over the finish line.
FYI: Many high-ticket sales require the buy-in from multiple stakeholders. Can a website or digital sales funnel ever do this? Probably not! But a human can. The salesperson can communicate value, answer questions, and get buy-in from several decision-makers simultaneously on a video call.
There are many tech hurdles to combat
What’s easier? Getting an SDR to dial down a call list to book meetings? Or setting up a full digital sales funnel using multiple online tools and probably some programming skills? Enough said. There are tech hurdles that you can expect to experience when going digital-first.
So, with this in mind, think of digital-first as the runway. Runways are important, but you need real human connection as the pilot to land the deal.
The Future is a Hybrid-approach — Digital-first, Human-powered
We’ve established that a human-powered sales process can:
- Address fears, calm nerves
- De-risk the purchase
- Offer up tailor-made solutions
- And actually close big deals
And we’ve established that it’s smart to use digital only for discovery, qualifying prospects, and nurturing leads… at which point it’s time to hand it off to the humans to finish the job.
With this in mind, below are some practical tips to get this right.
Nailing The Digital-to-Human Handoff:
- Train your reps in consultative sales, not just demo walkthroughs.
- Equip your reps with buyer insights (intel) from digital touchpoints.
- Cold call smarter: Reference your content that your buyers engaged with.
- Never try to automate the close. Assist it. Otherwise you will have a leaky sales funnel.
- Track everything, all touchpoints, in your CRM.
Final Words
It’s time to pop the hood and give your sales process an honest look. Do you have your digital presence on lock? If so, do you rely only on digital to get the job done?
If you are relying too heavily on digital channels, you’re truly leaving money on the table. Same goes for those who have zero digital presence and rely only on sales reps. The truth is, you need both in today’s competitive B2B sales landscape.
But remember, people buy from other people (can you blame us?). So as you continue to build out your tech stack and get deeper and deeper into AI automations, don’t forget the lifeblood — the human spirit — that ties it all together.
Until next time…
Johnny-Lee Reinoso